Alleged Tea Party Impostor Knocked Off the Ballot in Pennsylvania

By Chris Good

We've heard other reports of alleged Tea Party impostorism, from would-be Nevada Senate candidate Scott Ashjian to the TEA Party in Florida, which some think is a Democrat-run operation. And now, in Pennsylvania, Tea Party activists and the state Republican Party has knocked some Tea Partiers off the ballot as they've sought to run as third-party candidates.

Earlier in the week, SEN hopeful Mel Packer (Green) and GOV hopeful John Krupa running on the Tea Party ticket both ended their candidacies. In additon to the ballot challenge, Krupa's candidacy was marred by allegations that he was a Dem planted as a Tea Party candidate to draw votes away from GOP nominee Tom Corbett.

It's easy to boot candidates from the PA ballot because of a quirk in state law that requires candidates who lose challenges to their ballot status to pay for their challenger's legal fees. When Ralph Nader was kicked off the PA ballot in '04, he was forced to foot an $81,000 bill.

Krupa qualified for the gubernatorial ballot by gathering signatures with the help of union officials allied with Democratic Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, as reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. But a collection of Tea Party activists, in a move supported by the Pennsylvania GOP, challenged his candidacy and Krupa was tossed from the ballot by the the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.

So when Tea Party activists talk about a co-opting of their movement, stories like these mean their claims are at least sometimes on the mark.